February 16, 2025
by Chris Fitzgerald
KANSAS CITY, MO -- The potential was there, the storm was brewing, and Sports Performance 18 Elite has crashed into the final eight of the Triple Crown NIT 18 Elite bracket.
At the beginning of the season, there was plenty of potential for this squad. This team is made of athletes from the Class of 2026 who were on the final four NIT team from last year as 16s, the others are Class of 2025 athletes from a national runner up finish as 17s at AAU Open Nationals. Combining top athletes from these two teams would be exciting but also provide plenty of expectations.
This team has delivered.
SPVB 18 Elite out of Aurora, Illinois took home the 18 Open Central Zone Invite in Indianapolis a few weeks ago building plenty of momentum heading into NIT weekend. After going 2-1 in power pool play on day one, it was a dominant start to the day sweeping Dallas Skyline 18 Royal and TAV 18 Blue, setting up a sweet sixteen game against SAxC 18 Premier from California - winner heads to the final eight, the gold bracket of NIT.
From the start, it was all SPVB 18 Elite. Their clean, crisp ball control allowed them to take charge of the match allowing setter Audrey Asleson, a Colorado commit to run a balanced offense.
Who are her attackers? Who isn’t might be a better question. On the outside are two future Big Ten athletes in Bella Bullington (Northwestern) and Haley Burgdorf (Penn State). Both pure six rotation outside hitters with the all-around tools to serve receive, pass, and score at a high level.
The middle blockers are two juniors in Faith Jordan (Texas Tech) and Cassidy Cage (Mississippi State). They wreak havoc on the opposing side where they can block, transition, and be available to attack from multiple tempos coming from Asleson. They can also run a slide off one foot where they are sure to terminate.
On the right side is a heavy left-handed swing coming from Lauren Coyne, the Miami (OH) commit who also provides a big block as well as a nasty serve to get the other side out of system from the start.
Commanding the back row is Morgan Asleson who is textbook with every movement from her footwork to platform awareness where she gets everything rolling. She will head to Dayton University.
These athletes have their college plans in place, but first things first is a quarterfinal match with Coast 18-Ozhan, the defending champions of the 18 Elite division from 2024 starting at 7:30 AM Monday morning. The championship match is set for 12:00 on Court 15.
